Paddington designs by David Beckham, Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman, and Benedict Cumberbatch unveiled today for the first time ahead of the launch of The Paddington Trail tomorrow

Tuesday 04 November 2014

Today VisitLondon.com, the NSPCC and STUDIOCANAL revealed 15 of the much anticipated statues for The Paddington Trail, sponsored by Barclaycard. The stunning statues were accompanied by some of the celebrities and artists who designed the unique artworks that will go on display across London from tomorrow (Tuesday November 4).

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said, “London has a fine tradition of welcoming visitors from overseas and Paddington Bear is no exception. I hope Londoners and visitors to our great capital will follow the trail and perhaps offer him a Marmalade sandwich or two wherever they find him.”

Visitors will be able to follow in the furry footsteps of the world’s favourite Peruvian explorer visiting locations across the capital from as far west as Heathrow through to the O2 in the east, taking in some of London’s key cultural and landmark hotspots such as The Royal Opera House, Museum of London, Horse Guards Parade, the Museum of Childhood, Selfridges and, of course, Paddington Station.

VisitLondon.com has a dedicated section of their website which details a full list of designers and their designs and will enable visitors to London to find out more about the trail and download the trail map, share their pictures and discover the stories behind each statue and location. VisitLondon.com/Paddington.

The final four statue designers were also revealed as: celebrated artist Marc Quinn, world renowned architect Zaha Hadid, supermodel Kate Moss whose ‘Goldiebear’ is currently in the Christmas themed window of Selfridges and Hollywood superstar Sandra Bullock who has created a GRAVITY inspired design of Paddington in an astronaut’s outfit which will be hung from the ceiling at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

This morning Hugh Bonneville, who plays Mr Brown in the forthcoming PADDINGTON film released in UK cinemas on November 28 2014, joined fashion designer, Lulu Guinness and others to reveal their designs ahead of the overnight installation of all 50 bear statues in time for fans and visitors to London to see them in all their glory, up close and personal from Tuesday November 4.

London based design company 3DEye has helped to create the three foot six inch tall statues, which will be auctioned online by Christie’s from December 10 to raise vital funds for the NSPCC and its ChildLine service, helping to ensure that children and young people have someone to turn to in times of need in the same way as Mr and Mrs Brown were there for Paddington.

Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC said: “It’s so exciting to see the capital being taken over by this famous duffle coat wearing bear, and I hope that Londoners and visitors to the capital alike will enjoy exploring The Paddington Trail over the coming weeks. In the Paddington stories, Aunt Lucy implored Londoners to ‘please look after this bear’ and we’ll be giving people the chance to do just that when the statues are auctioned off later in the year in support of our ChildLine service.”

David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Europe said: “We're proud to be supporting The Paddington Trail in aid of the NSPCC and its ChildLine service, and we hope it will raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to protect children from abuse and help give them a better future.

“Barclaycard has been part of everyday life for nearly as long as Paddington bear, and during that time we've launched some of the biggest innovations in payments – most recently introducing contactless payments across the whole London transport network.

"With thousands of people expected to explore The Paddington Trail, we're encouraging everyone to go contactless when using the tube or bus in order to make it even easier to visit the 50 fantastic Paddington statues located across the capital."

Paddington’s origins date back almost sixty years to when his creator, Michael Bond, bought a small bear from Selfridges on Christmas Eve 1956, as a present for his wife, and named him after the nearest railway station to which they lived.

Selfridges is the Trail’s retail partner and will be selling a selection of statue miniatures from a dedicated Paddington concept store showcasing a variety of Paddington related products and artifacts. The Paddington Curiosity Shop has been created especially to celebrate the historic link between the store and the famous bear as well as raising funds for the NSPCC and its ChildLine service.

In Michael Bond’s original tales, the young bear finds himself alone in a big and unfamiliar city. Taken in by the Brown family, he finds a warm welcome and a safe place to stay and sets out to discover more about his adopted city.

Due for release in Canadian cinemas on January 16 2015, the big screen debut of PADDINGTON will showcase many of the trail locations in the capital, including his first port of entry – Paddington station. The film from Heyday Films and STUDIOCANAL is written and directed by Paul King (Bunny and the Bull, The Mighty Boosh) produced by David Heyman (Gravity, Harry Potter) and boasts an all-star cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman with Ben Whishaw as the voice of PADDINGTON.